Search This Blog

Tuesday, 20 January 2015

SUPPORT FOR JAILED DEMOCRAT LEADER

Former Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs and
President of the Danish Parliament, Mogens Lykketoft, has signed a petition that demands the release of
imprisoned Swazi political leader Mario Masuku, writes Kenworthy News Media.

“I support the appeal for the immediate release of
Mario Masuku and his colleague [student leader Maxwell Dlamini]. I have met
with Mario Masuku in Copenhagen as President of the Danish Parliament. He is
fighting for democracy and human rights in Swaziland. I urge Denmark and the
EU, together with South Africa, to ensure their immediate release so that they
can resume their political work”, Mogens Lykketoft said in a statement.

Hundreds of other organisations and individuals,
including the South African ruling ANC party, the International Trade Union
Confederation and Britain’s largest trade union UNISON, have supported the
campaign instigated by Danish solidarity organization Africa Contact and signed
the appeal.

The Danish ambassador to South Africa and Swaziland
last year raised the question of the trial of Mario Masuku and Maxwell Dlamini
with Swaziland’s government and absolute monarch King Mswati III.

Mario Masuku is the president of the People’s
United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), a political party that fights for
democracy in Africa’s last absolute monarchy. He is charged under an
anti-terrorism bill that Amnesty International has called “inherently
repressive” for having shouted “viva PUDEMO” and criticized the government in a
speech on Mayday last year. If convicted he could serve up to 15 years in
prison.

Masuku suffers from arthritis and diabetes. Whilst
in prison, he has contracted pneumonia and a life-threatening infection in his
left foot. He has been denied bail on two separate occasions.

Mogens Lykketoft has met with Mario Masuku on two
occasions; in the Danish parliament and in Johannesburg. He has also awarded
Masuku a democracy prize in the Danish Parliament in 2010.

Mogens Lykketoft was the leader of the Danish
Social Democratic Party between 2002 and 2005 and has served as Danish Minister
of Foreign Affairs, Finance Minister and Taxation Minister.. He is the current President of the Danish
parliament, and will be formally appointed as the next President of the United
Nations General Assembly on 15. September 2015.